Tag: Christian

Homosexuality is one of the most contentious issues facing Christian denominations, A year ago, Methodist ministers blessed a holy union ceremony in which two women exchanged marriage vows. Yet the controversy isn’t going away, and conservatives are urging an end to what they call blatant disobedience among clergy. More →

As he has since he was 18, Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school most Sundays at his little Baptist church in Georgia. However, Mr. Carter’s primary vocation is trying to prevent conflicts, promote democracy, and fight hunger and disease in the poorest parts of the world. More →

Hillary Rodham Clinton stated that, “In Christian theology, there are sins of weakness and sins of malice,” adding that her husband’s adultery was a sin of weakness. Is there a hierarchy of sin? Are we using the insights of modern psychotherapy to excuse bad behavior instead of merely explain it? More →

A 1998 Perspective on one man's view of the continuing struggle between religion and science. Sir John Polkinghorne is both a world-class physicist and an Anglican priest who says science can explain only part of what's real.

Church historian Martin Marty seems to be just about everywhere. He studies the impact of religion on health, travels around the country to explore religion where it's practiced, writes columns and reviews, and more. But perhaps Marty's greatest contribution has been as teacher, what he refers to as his true calling. The energetic pastor is booked two years ahead and scheduled to a minute, using every spare moment of his time.

Marianne Williamson blends Christian ideas and language with eastern philosophy and a hip attitude. She emphasizes direct, personal experiences of the sacred outside any organized religious tradition. Williamson's teachings about spirituality have touched millions of seekers and also caused many traditional believers to ask, "What is her appeal?"

In her popular lectures and in her book, THE HEALING OF AMERICA, Marianne Williamson discusses a spiritual reawakening taking place in America. According to Williamson, this is the result of the baby boomers emergence from a spiritual hibernation. As she sees it, many who were young in the 1960s are now ready to apply spirituality to politics.

How does a 64-year-old mother of seven, a contributing editor of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, an author and religious book expert much in demand for interviews and speeches, on the road about half the time keep her balance? Mrs. Tickle believes in theological roots and she respects Christian, New Age, and other kinds of spirituality.

Just outside Washington, DC, there's a 10-mile-long stretch of New Hampshire Avenue. It's lined with houses of worship: churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques. It's been called the Highway to Heaven. It's literally a drive-by tour of America's new religious landscape, strikingly diverse.